


Lightning in a Bottle

by missolivetree



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Mutual Pining, POV Multiple, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29413155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missolivetree/pseuds/missolivetree
Summary: Lily is a college student trying her best. She studies what she loves in the college she chose and she lives with her best friend. Everything is going well for her. Until she loses her job, her boyfriend breaks up with her, and she bumps into the person she hadn't seen in over a year and had tried hard to forget: James Potter.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

Lily put her things in the back of her car, got on the driver’s seat, and turned the radio on, trying to muffle her thoughts. When she realized Price Tag, by Jessie J, was on, she immediately knew that had been a terrible idea. Hearing about “when the sale comes first and the truth comes second” and how we’d “feel alright if we slowed down and enjoyed right now” was not a great soundtrack to the week in which she had been broken up with and unjustly fired.

She could feel the tears well up in her eyes and her throat threatening to close, so she quickly turned on the engine and drove away before the tears could slip free. She would not cry in the parking lot of the job she just lost. She would _not_.

It hadn’t even been a job she liked, for crying out loud. If she’d had to fold another shirt or ask another customer who was doing absolutely fine on their own “how can I help you?” with a fake smile on her face, she would probably scream. Not that the job wasn’t important. She knew it was, and obviously, someone had to do it. But she had only taken it to help pay for college because it allowed her to work part-time and earn good enough money.

And now she was partnerless, jobless, and had to find a new way to pay for food. At least when she had a boyfriend, he would pay for some of her meals. Which, okay, should not be the part that worried her the most after a break-up. But she didn’t have the time to unpack all the emotional stuff. She had to be practical. Maybe later that night she could recruit Mary and indulge in her misery, with a cheesy rom-com and a tub of ice cream. Right now, she had to go back to her classes.

With a startle, she realized she was already pulling up to her college’s parking lot. One of these days, she would definitely crash her car, driving everywhere on a mental autopilot like that. Not today, thankfully. Though that would have been right along the theme of this week.

She looked at herself in the rear-view mirror. This would not do. Clearly, some of the disobedient tears had found their way out. She looked around her backpack, found her make-up wipes, cleared the smudged mascara beneath her eyes, and reapplied it. Next, she looked for her portable hairbrush and detangled her dark red hair, straightening it once more. She didn’t have anything with her that could help her with the bags under her eyes, but by this point, they were as much a part of her as the green of her irises. This would have to do.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm down and prepare to face the world outside her car. When she felt a little more like herself, she took two more deep breaths and opened her door.

While she was walking, she felt her phone vibrate and took it out of her pocket.

 **_Mary_** _: Liiiils! Where are you??_

 ** _Lily:_** _On my way! Just parked._

 **_Mary:_ ** _I got a hot chocolate waiting for you! Hurry!!!!_

This made her smile. Mary was one of her oldest friends, and when they ended up getting accepted to the same college it seemed only natural for them to look for a place to live together. From then on, their bond only got stronger. And in times like these, when Mary could cheer her up before even knowing if and why she needed cheering, Lily could only feel happy for all the choices that took her to this place in her life. Even if some of those choices had been downright shitty.

“How are we on this fine sunny day?”, Mary asked as soon as Lily was close enough for Mary to put one arm around her shoulders and pull her close. Lily relished the half hug and breathed in the strawberry scent that always followed Mary. They shared a bathroom, and still Lily couldn’t figure out how she managed to smell like that all the time. Mary-magic, probably.

“We simply are, and that’s enough for now,” Lily said with a smile. “Now, I was promised a hot chocolate. Gimme.”

Mary laughed at her friend, but gave her the promised beverage, and walked arm in arm with her until they had to part for their different classes.

“I reckon tonight is going to be another pizza night?” Mary asked before turning.

“No, we can’t! We already had pizza Sunday.” Lily chewed her lower lip a bit before adding, “It _will_ be an ice cream night, though.”

“I never say no to ice cream nights,” Mary answered with a grin. “See you tonight, babe.”

“See you.”

After classes, Lily went to the grocery store. She’d decided during the afternoon she’d at least try and be a little healthy at dinner. This led to her browsing the vegetable section, mentally checking off what she needed to cook a vegetarian chilli, when she felt herself bump against someone.

“I’m so sorry –“ she started.

“Oh, sorry –“ the other person said at the same time.

When Lily turned to see who it was, her words died in her mouth. Staring back at her behind spectacles, a head taller than Lily, was a pair of hazel eyes she would never forget.

“James?”

“Yeah, hi, Lily,” he said while rubbing his neck and quickly averting his eyes to the floor.

“I… didn’t expect to find you here,” Lily said. She still had a courgette in her hand, which was not helping to lessen the awkwardness of this encounter. Putting it down would probably give the impression she wanted to stay here and talk longer, though. She passed it from hand to hand.

“Uh, yeah, I, I decided to change courses at the end of last year, so we’re actually in the same college, now. I live quite nearby. I just… wasn’t sure you’d want for me to reach out.”

Lily didn’t know what to answer to this. What would she have said if he’d reached out? Should she be mad he didn’t? Sad? God, this week kept getting stranger and stranger.

Luckily, she didn’t have to answer, because his phone started ringing, seeming to wake them both up from the trance they were in. James looked at his phone screen and then at her, seemingly apologetic.

“I- I should take this. It’s Sirius. It was really nice seeing you again. Bye.”

He turned away before Lily even managed to mutter a “bye” back at him, leaving her dumbfounded with a courgette in her hands. She put it in her cart and quickly did the rest of the shopping she needed for dinner, heading straight home after.

Lily got home before Mary, so she decided to chop the vegetables while she waited. She put on her go-to Spotify playlist and was happy enough when The Black Keys started playing. She sang along, hoping to drown her thoughts until Mary finally came home.

A few minutes later, she heard the lock of the front door turning, promptly followed by a trilled “Honey, I’m home!”

As soon as Mary came into view, Lily started talking.

“So, you’ll never guess what the cherry on top of this absolute cupcake of a week was.”

“You getting fired is not the cherry?” Mary asked while sitting on the counter. She reached for one of the peeled carrots and started eating it. Lily looked at her disapprovingly but simply started peeling another carrot.

“No. Getting fired was the frosting at most. The cherry came later.”

“Before you get carried away with the cupcake analogy, can you just tell me what happened?”

“James happened,” Lily said.

“James?”

“James.”

Mary bit on her carrot while mentally going through every James they both knew and who might classify as a “cherry”.

“Wait… James as in James _Potter_?”

“Yep.”

“As in James _will they / will they not_ Potter?”

“Okay, maybe don’t call him that –“

“As in James _what if_ Potter?”

“Mary –“

“As in James _the one who got away_ Potter?

“Stop!” Lily said loudly, but barely holding in her laughter. “I got your point a few nicknames ago. Let’s just call him James, okay?”

“He might be James for you, he’s still Potter for me,” Mary replied. “Anyway, how did this happen? And what happened, exactly?”

“Well, nothing happened, to be honest. We just bumped into each other in the grocery store. Apparently, he started studying at our college this term.” Lily paused while she went to the fridge to grab a pepper. “He said he didn’t reach out because he wasn’t sure if I’d want that?” A lilt at the end of the sentence made it sound like a question.

“Well, would you want him to?”

“Fuck knows.” Lily gave a short laugh. “I was still with Josh at the beginning of the term…”

Mary raised a brow at her.

“As if Josh would ever be able to stop you from doing whatever you wanted?”

“I just mean –“

“I know what you mean. And I’m not here for it. Don’t lie to yourself and especially don’t lie to me.” She pointed what was left of her carrot at Lily as if it were a knife before putting it all in her mouth at once. “I still don’t know what you saw in Josh, to begin with.”

Lily turned on the stove and put the chopped vegetables in a pan. She leaned against the counter and took a few moments before finally answering.

“Me neither, to be honest. I don’t think I ever saw anything in him. The sex was good, though.”

“And that, my friend, is why I forgive you,” Mary laughed. “We’ve all stayed longer than we should in some relationship or other. At least you got a good time out of it.”

“Cheers to that,” Lily said, also laughing.

Mary jumped out the counter and moved to Lily’s side, resting her head on her friend’s shoulder.

“What are you going to do about James, though?”

Lily rested her head on top of Mary’s.

“Nothing, I guess. I have a course to study for and a job to find before you evict me.”

Mary gasped. “I would never!”

“I know you wouldn’t, babe,” Lily said while laughing and kissed the top of Mary’s head before moving towards the stove again. “But I’m serious. If I see him again, then I’ll deal with it. I’ll at least say hi to him. I don’t hold anything against him. But there’s not much for me to do right now, so let’s just finish this chilli and watch a movie, yeah?”

“Whatever you want, cupcake. As long as we still have ice cream later.”

“Don’t call me cupcake,” Lily said with a scowl. “But of course we’ll have ice cream.”

The rest of the evening passed just as planned, with chilli, ice cream, and a cheesy rom-com.

Just before she went to bed, Lily checked her phone, where she found a message from a number she hadn’t used in months.

 **_Potter_ ** _: You seemed a little off today. The selfish part in me wants to believe it wasn’t just because of me? Anyway, sorry again for literally bumping into you. Here’s a cat meme as a peace offering. Hope you still like them. Good night, Lily._

_https://i1.wp.com/bestlifeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/cat-meme-97.jpg?w=1024 &ssl=1_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first try at a chaptered fic. I'll try to update at least once every other week.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, and I would very much like to hear your feedback!


	2. Chapter 2

James looked at his phone for the fifth time in as many minutes and fought the urge to unblock it again. The notifications’ light was not flashing, so he _knew_ he had no new notifications. He knew it.

He reached for his phone.

“Mate, I swear to everything holy, I’m going to throw that phone in the trash if you don’t stop looking at it every ten seconds,” Sirius said through gritted teeth.

“I was just checking to see if she has answered yet,” James said.

“I know. That’s the fucking problem.”

“Why hasn’t she answered yet, though?”

“One, you sent it after midnight, when most sensible people are already asleep,” Remus started, putting one finger in the air. “Two, it’s not even 11 a.m.”

“It’s _already_ 11 a.m.! She had over ten hours to answer me!”

“Three,” Remus continued counting, completely ignoring James, “she might not want to answer you. Four, a cat meme doesn’t really require an answer.”

James groaned in reply, letting himself slide down the couch. “You’re not helping.”

Peter looked at him with his head cocked to the side.

“What would you do if she answered, though?” he asked. “What’s the plan here?”

“You’re _not_ helping!” James screeched. “I don’t have a plan, but that doesn’t even matter if she doesn’t reply!” He took a deep breath and frowned at his friends, all sitting in his living room on a Saturday morning. “Why are you all even here? I thought we said we’d meet after lunch.”

“Sirius texted us and said you’d probably be having a crisis by now,” Peter answered.

“And you came to distract me?”

“We couldn’t let Sirius be the only one to enjoy this,” Remus said. “Your crises are free entertainment. The only type I can afford, these days.”

Sirius barked out a laugh while James groaned again, letting himself fall head-first to the floor.

Lily went straight to the faucet when she got home. The cold water tasted divine after her morning running, her sweat clinging her shirt to her skin. She filled her glass again and drank it all in three big gulps.

It was warmer outside than she had anticipated and running turned out to be harder than usual. It might be the extra kilometers she ran today. It could also be that every time she saw a cat, she ran a little faster. It was anyone’s guess, really.

Mary had gone to her parents’ house for the weekend, so Lily had called Dorcas and Marlene for a light lunch, for which she would probably be late if she didn’t hurry. She took a quick shower, put on a pair of jeans and one of her favourite shirts, and was out of the house five minutes before the hour they’d agreed to meet.

She thought of texting to say she was running late, but her phone was purposefully put at the bottom of her bag, and Lily thought better than to grab it. She settled for walking fast.

All for nothing, really, she realized when she arrived before her friends. Leaning against the wall of the café, Lily closed her eyes, enjoying the sun on her face and the fresh breeze playing with her hair. She felt something brush against her legs and looked down to see a cat purring at her. When did this town get this many cats? It was unsanitary, surely.

“Well, meow to you too,” she huffed, moving so the cat would leave her alone.

“Woah, what did that cat do to you?” Marlene asked as she arrived and pulled her into a hug, while Dorcas smiled and gave her a nod from behind Marlene’s shoulder.

Lily shared most of her classes with Marlene, and they’d become fast friends. Last year, Marlene met Dorcas, and Lily was happily third-wheeling ever since. They were, in her honest opinion, real couple goals.

“Well, nothing,” she answered with a sigh. “Just not in the mood for cats, today.”

Marlene raised a brow at her but said nothing. They started moving inside and quickly found themselves a table by the window.

“I didn’t think you ever were _not_ in the mood for cats,” Dorcas said, instead of sensibly letting the subject drop. “Did something happen? You know, apart from the ‘being suddenly single and broke’ thing?”

“I’m not broke.”

“Not _yet_ ,” Marlene said, grinning at her. If Lily didn’t know her well enough, she might have thought Marlene was making fun of her.

“And I won’t be, if I have any say in the matter.”

“Well, do you?” Dorcas asked through a laugh. “Have any say in the matter, I mean?”

“I should like to think so,” Lily answered, smiling back at her. “I just need to find another place that takes students working part-time, that fits my particular set of skills, and that pays me more to work than it costs me to get to work.” She bit one corner of her mouth and let out a breathy laugh. “I may have too much to say on the matter, though.”

The waiter came to take their orders and left them a glass of lemonade each. It was a small café, and they came here frequently enough that the only waiter could usually guess their orders. He mostly came to confirm it.

“Why don’t you see if that coffee shop out of campus is hiring? A girl from one of my classes worked there last semester and she liked it. I think they offer good conditions to students,” Dorcas said.

Lily grimaced. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for coffeeshop work, though. Too many boiling liquids and risk of spillage. I’d like to live another year without any third-degree burns, thank you very much.”

Her friends burst out laughing, startling an older couple at another table.

“Lily!” Marlene said after she managed to control her laughter, “You’re a Pharmacy student. You work with acids every other day. I think you’re more than prepared to work with hot beverages – not _boiling_ , you overdramatic ginger.”

“Well, you say that, but in the lab, I wear goggles, and protective gloves, and a lab coat. I doubt I can go wearing that into the coffee shop.”

“You most definitely can,” Marlene said. “In fact, I encourage it. Especially the goggles. Please. When I’m there, preferably.”

Lily glowered at her, but she was spared from any other comment by the waiter, who came with their food.

While they ate, Dorcas updated Lily on the state of her latest project. She was a Photography student and was working on an exhibit for one of her classes. Lily understood about 10% of the technical terms Dorcas was using, but the passion she spoke with about the meaning she wanted her exhibit to have and how she was going to use different techniques to do so… She understood perfectly why Marls loved this girl. And the fond smile on her friend’s lips said she had probably heard all this before and wouldn’t mind listening to it another thousand times. Lily smiled to herself.

After lunch, they parted with a hug and a promise from Lily to keep them updated about her job search. She then went home, to try and study for her classes next week.

“Here, you can have your phone back now,” Remus said, offering it to James. Apparently, watching him obsess over every imaginary notification wasn’t as funny as his friends had predicted, and they tried to confiscate his phone at lunch, so they could go on with their usual Saturday plans. James had resisted, but when Peter jokingly said that he hadn’t seen James “this worried about his phone since when he was still with Emily”, his mood had thoroughly soured, and he gave up his phone without another thought.

Admittedly, a soccer game was better played without a phone in his hand or his head, and he probably enjoyed himself more like this. His friends might have been right about that. Oh well.

Now, arriving back at his and Sirius’ place, James accepted his phone back and put it in his pocket.

“You guys sure you don’t want to stay for dinner? We can order some pizzas or something,” Sirius was saying to Remus and Peter, twirling the house keys around his index finger.

Remus bit his lower lip and seemed to hesitate, but said, “Nah, I really shouldn’t. I’ll come by tomorrow, though, if you agree to study at least a couple of hours.”

“Sure,” Sirius answered, grinning brilliantly at him.

Peter left with Remus soon after, leaving James and Sirius alone again.

“Now, just because you have that thing back – “, Sirius started as soon as they entered the apartment.

“Don’t worry, I won’t obsess over it, I will not despair over it, I won’t bother you with it.” James sighed. “I know the drill. I just got a little carried away with things. She probably won’t even say anything, anyway. Has every right not to, honestly.”

Sirius looked at him for a long while with a serious expression on, apparently trying to read something in the lines of James’ face. He eventually nodded.

“Right. Well. I’m gonna take a shower, then. We’ll still order pizzas when I get back.”

James went to his room and plopped himself on the bed, feeling the strain in his muscles from the game earlier. He wasn’t a great player – none of them were, to be honest –, but they compensated with enthusiasm, so he always felt absolutely tired after their Saturday games.

He took the phone from his pocket and turned around to put it on his nightstand but froze midmovement. He had a notification. He had a notification from Lily.

“She answered,” he said, but quietly. So quietly he barely heard himself.

 ** _Lils_** : _Of course, I still like cat memes. What sort of person do you think I am? I accept your peace offering under probation and send you one of my own. Enjoy.  
_ _https://www.rd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/02_Meowed-Final-1.jpg_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a bit longer than I had expected to update, sorry for that!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!


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